What The Heart Wants
by pansy1980
Summary: Free Coffee. And a man she thought she had forgotten. Chapter 2 is new
1. Chapter 1

What The Heart Wants

Free Coffee. And a man she thought she had forgotten.

Kathryn Janeway sat strumming her fingers against the armrest next to her. The seat next to her was unoccupied and the airport terminal was nearly empty. Every so often a name was announced over the loudspeaker, informing passengers of urgent messages. None were going to be for her she knew that for a fact.

But there had been a time before she was promoted to Admiral where it seemed no matter where she was, there was always a message waiting for her. There were messages from Starfleet, from her sister, and always from him.

To this day she never could figure out who he had done it. She would land in a new city, and there was always coffee waiting for her, and a new message from him. But that was many years ago. He had married another woman, and since then the free coffee perks had disappeared.

But that first time was still etched in her mind.

10 years earlier-

After 7 years in the Delta quadrant Captain Janeway's crew was finally home. There were endless nights of parties and weeks of debriefings. And slowly most of her adopted Voyager family slowly returned to their former lives. They were debriefed and started a new journey without their former family and former captain.

Chakotay and she had shared a quiet dinner together, and a bottle of Champagne. Kathryn was trying to get up the nerve to tell him how she felt about him when he spoke to her in that soft voice of his.

"Kathryn, I need to tell you something as my friend. Especially now that were are back in the Alpha quadrant."

This was it Kathryn began to shiver waiting to hear the words she had always wanted to hear from him. She had waited so many years for this moment. She took a deep breath and looked up from her dinner plate.

Chakotay cleared his throat, and looked her directly in the eyes.

"I'm going to ask Seven to marry me."

In that single moment everything changed for Kathryn. It was as if every dream she had ever had was based on a lie. Apparently her former self knew how deeply this was going to cut her, and that is why she warned her ahead of time. But even though she already knew, the shock was still extreme.

She didn't object she his ego had been hurt for years, waiting for her. He deserved better then her constant oath to Starfleet. Chakotay was still a handsome man even though the years had given him a few grey hairs, and he should have a desirable woman by his side. She always thought it would be her, but Kathryn had been wrong about many things in her life.

Kathryn gave him her blessing and after that night she discontinued communication with him. He had invited her to the wedding ceremony, but she simply bought a gift and had it sent. Her heart was still in pieces and could not take any more piercing.

So instead of going to the wedding she had scheduled a trip to Denver. She had never been to Colorado and she looked forward to just getting away for awhile.

As the plane descended into Denver the mountains captured her attention. Kathryn had grown up in Indiana, and everyone knows the only state that is flatter than Indiana is Nebraska. It was not like Kathryn had not seen mountains before she had traveled a lot since her younger days, hell she had even traveled across the galaxy and seen mountains no other human had ever experienced. But somehow this time these mountains captured her imagination.

She had just exited the plane and was walking into the terminal when one of the attendants pulled her aside and told her that she had had a message waiting for her. Kathryn was surprised because no one knew that she was coming to Colorado, she had not told a soul. Curiosity got the better of her and she followed the agent to a section with comfortable chairs and a screen where she could retrieve the message. Kathryn took a deep breath and activated the pad in front of her.

The pad in front of her beeped indicating that the message was text only.

_To Captain Janeway-_

_I hope you enjoyed your flight. I know you need to relax and take some time off so I will make this brief. I was informed that The Rocky Mountain Coffee blend is one of the best coffees Earth has to offer. And I was sure that only a true coffee connoisseur would appreciate. There is a blend waiting for you in the café, along with me if you will give me another chance. _

_I have thought of you ever since that kiss we shared. _

_Kashyk_

Kathryn sat stunned. This was obviously a joke. How on earth could it not be. Kashyk was thousands of light years away, in another quadrant, and how on earth would he even get to Earth, let alone know she was in Denver.

It is probably Phoebe playing a prank on me she thought. Kathryn slid her pack on her shoulder and walked through the terminal thinking about how she was going to kill her sister for this particular prank.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

_What the heart wants_

_2_

_On the corner of one of the terminals situated between two large sago palms stood the Red Barron Café and coffee center. It was a place where all Starfleet officers went while traveling. It was a franchise operation now, but Kathryn could remember the first time that her father took her to the one in San Francisco, when it was first built. The owners of the establishment had been friends of the family so Kathryn and her dad went there frequently. _

_Of course it had been years ago that the business had been sold and turned into a franchise, but seeing the business sign again captured her memories if only for a small moment. She took a minute to recall all of the great times she had with her father, and then turned and walked inside the café._

_Kathryn was in luck it wasn't crowded, in fact except for a small family setting by the window watching the planes take off she had the place relatively to herself. The place looked the same. The candles, surrounded by iris flowers, were lit, even in the middle of the day. Hardwood ceilings gave way to walls and floors. And there was always the fresh scent of coffee._

_Kathryn grinned internally when coffee came directly to her table without her even ordering. It was just like the free samples she remembered getting in her youth. The mixture was dark and the aroma was that of mint and chocolate. She had only taken one sip letting the flavors dance on her tongue when she heard a voice that echoed her back to the Delta quadrant._

"_Hello Captain."_

_It couldn't be. There was no way that it could be possible. But there he stood, almost like the first time he had beamed to Voyager many years ago. She realized that she was starring but given the circumstances how could she not stare? He was standing in front of her and she couldn't say a word._

"_You look surprised to see me Captain."_

"_Lets just say I was expecting someone less like you and more like my sister. She has a habit of playing jokes on me sometimes." Kathryn took another sip of her coffee and tried to swallow. "Why on Earth are you here on Earth Kashyk, and how come you are so far from Devore space?"_

_He laughed. "I am actually working for a security company in the Mediterranean. That was one of the reasons I was able to locate you on such short notice. I figured you were still drinking coffee and it seemed like the easiest way to break the ice with you._

_It is funny how security is different here then on my home planet Captain. But I find that the pace and the ease of life much more comforting, and I know that I am no longer solely responsible for someone's death. It puts my mind at ease. When I relocated here to Earth it was easy for me to start at the top because of my qualifications, call it a second chance to reclaim my humanity."_

_He took his hand and placed it over hers. "Lets just say it is something that you taught me while we were still on Voyager together. To be honest with you Captain there was another reason that I came to Earth. I needed to apologize for my behavior while you were on my planet._

_After you finally left the borders of our space, I began to re-evaluate my thoughts and came to the conclusion that you were correct in your observations. When I confronted the head council about my thoughts, I was immediately removed from my position. I jumped on a cargo vessel and somehow we made our way through a worm whole and ended up in the Alpha quadrant. I was at one of the outer space stations when I heard the news about Voyager making it home._

_Kathryn took another long sip from her coffee and starred into his eyes. She was trying to put together everything that this man had just told her. He had sacrificed his entire way of life because of something she had said that had reached his heart. _

"_Captain if I may be so bold I was a little surprised to find out that you and your first officer, I do not recall his name, were not traveling together."_

_Kathryn took another swig of her coffee and closed her eyes for a moment letting the mint chocolate goodness run down her throat. "You mean Chakotay? He and I went our separate ways as soon as we returned to Earth. Actually he is getting married tomorrow."_

_Kashyk smiled at her statement. "And its not you that he is marrying?"_

_Kathryn looked him in the eyes. "No it isn't me." And for some reason she added more to the statement then she planned on doing, but somehow it slipped out of her mouth. "I was a fool to think that he would ever need me." Immediately after she said it her hand went over her mouth._

_Kathryn didn't know what came over her in the next second. Perhaps it was bringing up old memories from the heart that had consumed her for so long but she started to cry. The tears poured from her eyes and they drained themselves in her cup of coffee._

_He leaned over and whispered "he is a fool." And then kissed her._

_(TBC)_


End file.
